Is Safe to feed my chameleon only meal worms/ how do I keep crickets alive?

olivia.griswold

olivia.griswold

Member
So it's my first time owning a chameleon. I recently discovered she is female. She is a juvenile 5 month old veiled chameleon. Whenever I buy her crickets, most of them die in a matter of 1 week. I have a lot of egg cartons in the cage I keep them in to keep them off themselves because they will eat each other. I gut feed them and my chameleon LOVES crickets and will immediately eat when I feed her. I just recently bought meal worms as well and she loves those a lot as much as crickets so that's amazing! But the problem is that the crickets die so quickly and she does not like to eat dead crickets (she only eats if the cricket is moving). The meal worms are easy to keep alive but the crickets, not so much. So now I have two questions, how do I keep my crickets alive and is it possible to only feed her meal worms?
Sorry for the long thread.
 
Short answer; no. Mealworms are not a good staple, superworms are a better choice and can also be gutloaded. What are you keeping the crickets in? I usually buy 30 or so and they can last two weeks depending on how much my panther eats. Also, what are you gutloading the crickets with?
There are many feeder options out there including waxworms (use as a treat) silkworms, hornworms, black soldier fly larvae, various roaches, locusts/grasshoppers, etc.
You say you have a female veiled, is there an egg laying bin in her cage? Females will lay eggs regardless of being bred or not.
 
Crashbandit05 said:
Short answer; no. Mealworms are not a good staple, superworms are a better choice and can also be gutloaded. What are you keeping the crickets in? I usually buy 30 or so and they can last two weeks depending on how much my panther eats. Also, what are you gutloading the crickets with?
There are many feeder options out there including waxworms (use as a treat) silkworms, hornworms, black soldier fly larvae, various roaches, locusts/grasshoppers, etc.
You say you have a female veiled, is there an egg laying bin in her cage? Females will lay eggs regardless of being bred or not.
Click to expand...
I do not exactly know what the cage thing I'm carrying the crickets in. I bought it from PetSmart and I was going to buy an enclosure meant for crickets but it was pretty expeinsive so instead I bought a hermit crab carrying cage. It looks very similar to the actual cricket enclosure.
I gutload my crickets with Fluker's Cricket Quencher (that is what PetSmart was feeding their crickets). On top of this, I cover the crickets with Zoo Med's Repti Calcium.
As goes for if I have a bin for her to lay eggs in; no, not yet. I was planning on getting one before the month ends. What should I look for when I'm buying her a bin to lay her eggs in?
One more question; what food option is the least expensive? I bought 50 meal worms and 60 small crickets at the beginning of the month and it costed $12! Does it always cost this much? BTW I know 60 crickets is a lot.. maybe even too much at a time but it was the only amount in stock and I needed to get my cham food ASAP. IMG_20180120_152424.jpg IMG_20180120_152738.jpg
 
That tub is fine for crickets but probably not that large of an amount. You need better gutloading ingredients, that Flukers stuff is garbage, return it if you can. I gutload my crickets and superworms with a 'cricket crack' that I bought on Amazon, and use fresh veggies and fruits for the wet portion. A simple search will show you what the best gutload is.
You can also search 'lay bin' and get several ideas of what you'll need. I have a male so I'm not experienced with lay bins.
 
Yeah that's a no on the mealworms. As for the crickets, I have had a lot of success with keeping boxes of 500 by using Cricket Crack regularly and regular water crystals. You can buy the dry Cricket Crack gutload from their website or facebook or something... can't remember because it lasts a long time with supplementing with good gutload fruits and veges now and then. As for the water, I ordered them off of Amazon... I got probably enough for like 5 gallons for about $15 haha definitely set for a while! I fill a small container with some crystals and water until I get the right amount and have them on hand to scoop in for the crickets.
There is always some amount of die off, but the Cricket Crack and water crystals as a staple have kept more alive for longer. I have found that that is also cheaper in the long run than buying the Flukers and other brands of "special" crystals. Also, the size container you have is just fine for the amount you are currently keeping, but if you end up buying larger amounts, you'll need a larger container. There is one called a cricket keeper or something that has black tubes for them to hide in and facilitates dispensing.
It is certainly not cheap, but there are ways to make it more cost effective. Buying my crickets, their food, and the water crystals basically in bulk, I spend about $25 on crickets per month...... ish. Plus I get other feeders like hornworms, reptiworms, and superworms to mix it up. Superworms aren't a good staple feeder, but they live a looong time and are low maintenance. Hornworms are great, especially if your cham needs a moisture boost. Reptiworms are cheap, easy to keep, and can be fed off at all stages - the larval stage is more nutritious, but the flies are fun for the cham.
Hope this helps!
 
olivia.griswold said:
I do not exactly know what the cage thing I'm carrying the crickets in. I bought it from PetSmart and I was going to buy an enclosure meant for crickets but it was pretty expeinsive so instead I bought a hermit crab carrying cage. It looks very similar to the actual cricket enclosure.
I gutload my crickets with Fluker's Cricket Quencher (that is what PetSmart was feeding their crickets). On top of this, I cover the crickets with Zoo Med's Repti Calcium.
As goes for if I have a bin for her to lay eggs in; no, not yet. I was planning on getting one before the month ends. What should I look for when I'm buying her a bin to lay her eggs in?
One more question; what food option is the least expensive? I bought 50 meal worms and 60 small crickets at the beginning of the month and it costed $12! Does it always cost this much? BTW I know 60 crickets is a lot.. maybe even too much at a time but it was the only amount in stock and I needed to get my cham food ASAP. View attachment 198516 View attachment 198518
Click to expand...
hey you need some more supplements!! I was looking at the picture and that’s a sample size WITHOUT D3!!!!! That is the one that comes in the chameleon kit. You need some calcium with D3!! And you need herbtivite, you should sprinkle the one with D3 on every meal and NEVER use the one without D3 or if you house your cham out side!! If you have a female get some liquid calcium from your vet. How old is she?? She might be gravid with some pictures! I just got a large plant pot and put natural dirt in it from Walmart. My female layed her eggs about 4 months ago. I just saw that and that is not proper care for your cham (srry if I’m being rude) Please post some Pictures!!!!! Oh and cut the meal worms! They are really bad for chams. Try some horn worms, wax worms, and last some roaches

Worms
Lindasgonebuggy.com

Roachs
Capecodroaches.com

Thanks
 
olivia.griswold said:
I do not exactly know what the cage thing I'm carrying the crickets in. I bought it from PetSmart and I was going to buy an enclosure meant for crickets but it was pretty expeinsive so instead I bought a hermit crab carrying cage. It looks very similar to the actual cricket enclosure.
I gutload my crickets with Fluker's Cricket Quencher (that is what PetSmart was feeding their crickets). On top of this, I cover the crickets with Zoo Med's Repti Calcium.
As goes for if I have a bin for her to lay eggs in; no, not yet. I was planning on getting one before the month ends. What should I look for when I'm buying her a bin to lay her eggs in?
One more question; what food option is the least expensive? I bought 50 meal worms and 60 small crickets at the beginning of the month and it costed $12! Does it always cost this much? BTW I know 60 crickets is a lot.. maybe even too much at a time but it was the only amount in stock and I needed to get my cham food ASAP. View attachment 198516 View attachment 198518
Click to expand...
Get a bigger bin for your crickets they must be crammed!!! What are gutloading them with?? Veggies and stuff like carrots are a good choose and fluckers stuff like people have said is terrible I’ve tried their stuff from bugs to lights. Plus 60 crickets is like nothing. Your Cham should be eating at least 20 crickets a day with the size of the crickets and and the size of your Cham. I spend about 70$ A month for my chams food...
 
Hey, Olivia! I use about half and half roaches and crickets for my staples. Dubia Roaches (one of the site sponsors) is my go-to. I always get more roaches than stated (if I buy 25, I'll get 30-35) and rarely have any die on me. Roaches live much longer, have less odor, and are easy to gut-load. They are also easier to clean up after, and the current information states they are more nutritious than crickets. Check the veiled care sheets under the resource tab on your supplements. Those sheets were written by the experts, and according to those care sheets, you do not feed calcium with D3 every feeding, it's only every two weeks. That being said, your lighting will play into that. The calcium you have is fine for most of your feedings. Good luck with your girl!
 
Please post some photos of your chameleon.

Most feeder insects have a poor phosphorus to calcium ratio so it's recommended that you dust the insects at almost every feeding with a phosphorus-free calcium powder to help make up for it.

It's also recommended that you dust the insects twice a month with a phosphorus-free calcium/D3 powder to ensure that your chameleon has some D3 but leaves it to produce the rest from it's exposure to the UVB light. D3from supplements can build up in the system and lead to health issues but D3 produced from exposure to the UVB or sunlight won't as long as the chame!eon can move in and out if it at will.

It's also recommended that you dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene prOformed source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A won't build up in the system and lead to health issues like prEformed sources can...but this leaves it up to you to decide if/when your chameleon needs some prEformed vitamin A.

It's important for the phosphorous, calcium, vitamin A and D3 to be in balance.

It's important to feed/gutload your insects well too. For crickets, superworms, roaches, etc I use dandelion greens, kale, collards, endive, squash, zucchini, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, carrots, and a bit of melon, berries, pears, apple, etc.

The container you're using would be fine for a couple of dozen crickets. The egg cartons are the right thing to use for the crickets too but I would try to put a few more pieces in. How warm are you keeping the cricket container?
 
@kami baby I don't mean to be rude but you should not give out advice if you do not know your facts!

@olivia.griswold you should not need to use calcium with D3 @ every feeding especially if you have a healthy cham without MBD!

Mealworms are not good for reptiles because they easily cause impacting and are of very little nutritional value. As said above superworms are much better.

Somethings that is a little concerning are 1) you are using information you got from employees at petsmart! (I also make this mistake as many people do). The employees very rarely know about the proper care for chameleons (and reptiles in general). So you can probably bet that at least half of what you have bought is trash. Definitely look up the care sheets for your female vailed! You are going to need to do a lot of research to care for her properly! Chameleons are not easy to care for! I did see that you got her a plant... This leads me to think she has fake plants... This is also not recommend for veiled's because they will eat leaves sometimes and if they get a piece of plastic it is very likely to cause an impaction. She will need all live plants (check the safe plant list when choosing)

2) you seemed very surprised that you spent $12 on food for her. This is a bit concerning for a few reasons 1* $12 for cham food is nothing! Chameleons need a variety of different feeders and some can be quite expensive! Do keep in mind that there are some staple feeders you can easily breed yourself with little effort. 2* you asked about cheap feeders (I think) when I see a new owner asking about how to provide for their cham cheaply I get scared for the cham. Keeping a cham is a very expensive hobby!! First you need to buy a property sized enclosure and both uvb hood's and lights and basking lights. There are a few places you can cut costs here such as building your enclosure and using an appropriate watt household light bulb for a basking light. You do not want to go cheap on your uvb light! I have a lot of tips on how to save $$ and still provide great care! Just ask. I would not wait on a lay bin for her, because she may need to lay before the end of the month and if she doesn't have a bin she can easily become egg bound. That brings me to my last point for this response. You are going to want at least $100 in a vet care savings account. I always recommend $300 for males and at least $600 for females as a minimum. Your cham can not go to just any vet. They need to see an exotic vet who has personal experience with chams. They are not cheap! If you can I would put $1000 In a vet savings . Also look into pet insurance!!

I have given you a lot to chew on... If you have any questions while doing your research feel free to ask! That is what we are hear for (just take sound advice from experienced keepers only!)

Also welcome to the forum! Glad your here!
 
Katacara said:
@kami baby I don't mean to be rude but you should not give out advice if you do not know your facts!

@olivia.griswold you should not need to use calcium with D3 @ every feeding especially if you have a healthy cham without MBD!

Mealworms are not good for reptiles because they easily cause impacting and are of very little nutritional value. As said above superworms are much better.

Somethings that is a little concerning are 1) you are using information you got from employees at petsmart! (I also make this mistake as many people do). The employees very rarely know about the proper care for chameleons (and reptiles in general). So you can probably bet that at least half of what you have bought is trash. Definitely look up the care sheets for your female vailed! You are going to need to do a lot of research to care for her properly! Chameleons are not easy to care for! I did see that you got her a plant... This leads me to think she has fake plants... This is also not recommend for veiled's because they will eat leaves sometimes and if they get a piece of plastic it is very likely to cause an impaction. She will need all live plants (check the safe plant list when choosing)

2) you seemed very surprised that you spent $12 on food for her. This is a bit concerning for a few reasons 1* $12 for cham food is nothing! Chameleons need a variety of different feeders and some can be quite expensive! Do keep in mind that there are some staple feeders you can easily breed yourself with little effort. 2* you asked about cheap feeders (I think) when I see a new owner asking about how to provide for their cham cheaply I get scared for the cham. Keeping a cham is a very expensive hobby!! First you need to buy a property sized enclosure and both uvb hood's and lights and basking lights. There are a few places you can cut costs here such as building your enclosure and using an appropriate watt household light bulb for a basking light. You do not want to go cheap on your uvb light! I have a lot of tips on how to save $$ and still provide great care! Just ask. I would not wait on a lay bin for her, because she may need to lay before the end of the month and if she doesn't have a bin she can easily become egg bound. That brings me to my last point for this response. You are going to want at least $100 in a vet care savings account. I always recommend $300 for males and at least $600 for females as a minimum. Your cham can not go to just any vet. They need to see an exotic vet who has personal experience with chams. They are not cheap! If you can I would put $1000 In a vet savings . Also look into pet insurance!!

I have given you a lot to chew on... If you have any questions while doing your research feel free to ask! That is what we are hear for (just take sound advice from experienced keepers only!)

Also welcome to the forum! Glad your here!
Click to expand...
Thank you for welcoming me. I feel soooo overwhelmed now. I do not have pet insurance and I am actually pretty young (just pointing that out because people are telling me to have pet insurance and $1000 in a pet savings account) I am 13 years old. I really just fell in love with my cham and I want her to be soo healthy. I really love animals and in fact I all the pets I have owned live for a surprising long time depending on what species it is. That being said, I will put a lot of effort into taking care of my new cham but I have to juggle going to school and all that stuff. And I obviously don't have a lot of money because I dont have a job. I only get paid $20 a month from allowance lol. Thanks for the helpful tips guys.
 
So, just because you are young does not mean you will be unable to succeed. A good pet insurance would likely be under $10 a month. It is a good idea to be able to handle the unexpected issues that may arise.

As for cricket deaths, a bit larger container with decent ventilation and kept as clean as possible will usually help. If you do have a few die off don't leave them in the container.

With females you will need to be ready for eggs. Here is a nice resource...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/egg-laying-and-the-laying-bin.345/
 
I stopped using crickets because they escaped my chameleon's cage without her nor I knowing . . . :mad: Plus they are little bit high in phosphorus. I find dubia roaches a happy medium because they don'y escape, aren't quite as gross to me, and they are nutritious! Crickets are still a great and easy feeder though. The gutoad is the most important part, anyways ;)
 
@kami baby you have repeatedly been giving people incorrect information. You are inexperienced and it is extraordinarily irresponsible for you to keep demanding people do things when you do NOT know what you’re taking. It is very very evident from the things you keep saying, this is at least the third example of you posting bad advice TODAY. Please please please stop advising people until you are far more experienced and leave the advice to more experienced members. Did you really just tell someone to never use calcium without D3? I am not trying to be unkind, but you are endangering people’s pets with your bad information! Please tone it down, you might end up causing damage if people listen to you....
 
Ok use the calcium without d3 in every feeding especially if using crickets. The calcium with d3 needs to be used twice a month. When you purchase the multivitamin check the amount of phosphorus in it as many feeders are high in phosphorus and that can deplete the calcium in your chams body.
 
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